Blake Griffin: The revenge of Timofey Mosgov and how to change the subject

Apparently there are some folks in Oklahoma City who are tired of hearing about Blake Griffin’s dunk on Thunder center Kendrick Perkins in particular, and Griffin’s dunks in general. For the record: I’m not one of them.

But those unfortunate weary souls have a new and unlikely hero: Timofey Mosgov.

Mosgov is a Russian center who plays for the Denver Nuggets. Until this week, Mosgov was the poster boy for Blake Griffin posterization. His moment came last year while wearing a New York Knicks uniform.

But Mosgov fought back Thursday night in Los Angeles. His hard foul on Griffin denied a dunk in the middle of a dominant third quarter that carried the Nuggets to a 30-point win at the Staples Center.

Nothing dirty about it. Just a clean hard foul.

These plays are fun to talk about and analyze in the light of day. But it’s interesting how things we talk about for days on end can get lost in the immediate aftermath of a game.

When Griffin posterized Perkins on Monday night, The Oklahoman’s John Rohde made reference to it in a story that posted on NewsOK in the wee hours of Tuesday morning but not in a short story written for The Oklahoman under a tight deadline. His story focused on how the Clippers handed the Thunder a decisive defeat, and what the loss may have revealed about Oklahoma City.